Psychologists used the scientific method because it provides the best way to gain new knowledge about behavior Psychologists use the scientific method to observe behaviors as they occur in [...]
Descriptive Research Question : asks about the presence of behavior, how frequently it is exhibited, or whether there is a relationship between different behaviors Causal Research Questions : [...]
Internal and external validity have an inverse relationship External validity : the degree to which the results of a study apply to individuals and realistic behaviors outside the [...]
Reliability : the degree to which the results of a study can be replicated under similar conditions Operational definition : the definition of an abstract concept (such as intelligence) [...]
Ethical guidelines are needed to define the appropriate treatment of subjects in psychological research Current ethical guidelines were derived over the years as the original Nuremberg Code was revised [...]
Population: group of individuals a researcher seeks to learn about from a research study Sample: the group of individuals chosen from the population to represent it in a research [...]
Descriptive statistics: measures that help us summarize data sets o Summarizes raw data that allows the researchers to get a sense of the data set without reviewing every score [...]
Psychometrics: area of psychological research that involves the development, validation, and refinement of surveys and tests for measuring psychological constructs Construct validity: indicated that a survey measures the behavior [...]
Correlational Study: examines the relationships between multiple DV, without manipulating any of the variables Descriptive research question: asks about the presence of behavior, how frequently it is exhibited, or [...]
Matched design : between subjects experiment that involves sets of participants matched on a specific characteristic with each member of the set randomly assigned to a different level of [...]
PretestPosttest Design : research design where behavior is measured both before and after a treatment or condition is implemented o Quasiexperiment because there is no random assignment of participants [...]
Longitudinal Design: a developmental design where a single sample of participants is followed over time and tested at different ages o Within subjects variables Tested at age 5, age [...]
Critical region: the most extreme portion of a distribution of statistical values for the null hypothesis, determined by the alpha level o If our calculated statistic falls in the [...]
